Memorials reconnect ex-presidents

Dec. 10, 2013
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President Obama and former presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter arrive for the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center in April 2013. / David J. Phillip, AP

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

by David Jackson, USA TODAY

Funerals, memorials and library openings often bring together one of the world's most exclusive clubs: U.S. presidents.

When President Obama and predecessors George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter attended Nelson Mandela's memorial in South Africa on Tuesday, it marked only the second time ever that four U.S. presidents had gathered together on foreign soil.

In 1999, four presidents - then-incumbent Clinton, and predecessors George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford and Carter - attended the funeral of King Hussein of Jordan.

George H.W. Bush, 89, was unable to travel to Mandela's service.

Presidential get-togethers are more common in the United States.

Before leaving office, President George W. Bush invited his father, Clinton and Carter to meet with President-elect Obama.

The same quintet gathered in Dallas earlier this year for the opening of the George W. Bush presidential library.

Meetings of the ex-presidents club can often promote bonding, as political disputes of the past fade away.

Former presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, who had a falling out after Ike sought the presidency in 1952 and replaced Truman, reconnected at the 1963 funeral of slain successor John F. Kennedy.

Carter and Ford, who ran against each other in a tight 1976 race won by Carter, began a long-time friendship when they rode together aboard Air Force One after the 1981 funeral of Egypt's Anwar Sadat.

One of the things that bonded Carter and Ford: Mutual dislike of Ronald Reagan.

Clinton and the younger Bush got to know each other better while flying to the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II

Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, who recounted these stories in their book The President's Club, wrote this week that "historic funerals have a way of concentrating the minds of the men and women who make history," particularly U.S. chief executives.

Wrote Gibbs and Duffy:

"They've already had to plan their own funerals in uncomfortably vivid detail: who comes, who speaks, where will all the satellite trucks park, do they want to be buried near their home or at their presidential library to be sure the pilgrims keep on coming?

"As they write their eulogies for their fellow titans, they can't help but imagine their own, review their challenges, hype their accomplishments, hide their regrets. These uncommon occasions to get together, if nothing else, are an opportunity to forgive."